Hibiki Momiji lay on the hospital bed, eyes tightly shut, connected to various life-support and monitoring devices.
"Sorry, Mr. Momiji," Judai said, scratching his head as he sat by the bedside, "but I seem to have lost again."
"As I said, you've already done well enough," Hibiki Midori said softly. "Momiji would surely be pleased to know that."
Yugen thought to himself that indeed, with on-the-spot card printing and effect rewriting, Absolute Zero Hero received an epic upgrade during that match, which means much more to Elemental Heroes than just winning a single duel.
In this light, if Judai were to experience more high-pressure situations and sudden power bursts in the future, it would be a blessing for hero duelists worldwide.
What does it mean to have innate card abilities, and what value does it hold to be like a walking card printer?
However, what caught Yugen's attention was something else entirely.
Though it was only for a fleeting moment, he was certain he saw a special power triggered within Judai. His pupils briefly turned a dangerous golden color, the mark of the Overlord.
But when he asked Judai himself, he looked utterly bewildered.
"No, I didn't feel anything," Judai said. "If I had to describe what I felt at the time, well... I was just unwilling to accept defeat. I wanted to put everything into that duel.
And then the following actions just felt instinctual..."
Indeed, even asking the person involved didn't reveal anything conclusive.
However, Yugen already had a rather bold hypothesis.
Although Judai is said to be the reincarnation of the Overlord, there were no foreshadows or hints in the first half of the anime. It's clear that the Overlord's narrative was a new addition by later scriptwriters, and it felt somewhat abrupt compared to the earlier parts.
So is it possible that, although he is a reincarnation, the Overlord wasn't always within his body?
Otherwise, why didn't the Overlord react during the numerous crises Judai faced early on — even losing to Ed, who was empowered by Saio's power, nearly getting eliminated?
Moreover, when Judai went to the Other Dimension to rescue John, it was his first time in that dimension, yet the elves there seemed already aware of the Overlord's existence.
Connecting this with what the Judge just said, Yugen developed this hypothesis.
While Judai is closely linked with the Overlord, perhaps the Overlord wasn't initially sleeping within his body, but in the Elf Realm, which is one of the twelve dimensions depicted in the anime.
However, the Overlord's airtime in the anime was too short and he duelled too little, making it hard to assert his actual strength.
Because although the Overlord's appearance was well-staged and looked impressive, his actual record was only one win and one draw.
And in the duel against Jim, the Overlord initially lost. The production team made a calculation error, underestimating by 100 life points. The Overlord narrowly won with 50 life points left, but in reality, he should have already lost, and Jim should have won.
But that was in the original broadcast version of the anime. Later, when the GX anime was released on DVD, the production team fixed this bug.
The specific fix was that the monster Jim originally summoned, "Fossil Dinosaur Pachycephalosaurus," had an attack power of 1300. But in the DVD version, to preserve the Overlord's last 50 life points, the attack power of Pachycephalosaurus was reduced to 1200, resulting in 100 less damage dealt.
This is also why the attack power of the physical card version of Pachycephalosaurus was reduced to 1200.
Of course, victory rates in the anime can't directly explain everything. After all, if you just look at win rates, many boss-level characters directly face the Duel King when they appear. Even strong characters like Dazi never won in the anime, only managing to win half a duel by defeating Kaiba in a two-on-one match.
And if we talk about the highest win rate across generations, it has to be Sister Yubel. Moreover, Yubel isn't the type to play just a couple of duels to pad win rates and leave. Yubel is considered a workhorse among the bosses in the entire Yu-Gi-Oh! series, playing one quality match after another.
What with the explosive Hell Caesar, Ammon, who sacrificed his wife to break the seal on the Dark Mage, the two-on-one against protagonists Judai and John, and finally playing two consecutive matches with Judai...
Sister Yubel consistently delivered quality matches, dueling Judai three times, one of which was a two-on-one. In another match, Judai even unlocked the Overlord seal. Yet, Sister Yubel didn't lose a single match; the only draw with Judai was intentional, as she seized the opportunity to steal Judai's Super Fusion.
Leaving aside pure strength, Sister Yubel undoubtedly has the most glamorous battle record among the Yu-Gi-Oh! bosses of all time.
Yugen contemplated that now he's already found a way to enter the Elf Realm, and in the future, he might visit those twelve dimensions from the anime to see if there's any news about the Overlord.
Of course, that's a matter for after dealing with the current competition.
There's twenty minutes left until the qualifying matches.
Yugen returned to his room to make final adjustments to his card deck.
"Finally, the moment has come, and the opponent is President Kaiba..."
Representing the pinnacle of this world's duelist skills, it's Yugen's best opportunity yet to test himself.
His elves seemed quite excited about the match as well.
"The strongest duelist, Seto Kaiba, is it."
Artificial Human Soga crossed his arms, looking calm and composed.
"Whatever, I'll make a move."
"Heh heh heh..." the Evil Emperor let out a laugh that sounded somewhat sarcastic and strange.
The Artificial Human was displeased: "What's so funny?"
"Don't make me laugh. You can handle ordinary opponents, but what can you do against the White Dragon? Jam our own backfield?"
Indeed. Although President Kaiba is generally a balanced duelist who doesn't shy away from traps, he's certainly not as focused on trap-based tactics as Yugen is. As an opponent, the President indeed isn't well-matched with Artificial Human Soga.
Soga was momentarily speechless and then angrily retorted: "Then... then what good are you? Their whole family's Light Attribute, what use are you as a Dark Attribute exterminator?"
The Evil Emperor was aggravated: "At least I have a banish ability; I can banish myself for damage, can you?"
Soga wanted to argue further when a white magic staff suddenly appeared between them. The Silent Magician looked at the two with annoyance, ready to act at any moment.
The two elves immediately shut up, glaring at each other wordlessly.
"No matter how you choose to attack," Chaos Warrior hovered behind, "my sword will always be with you."
Of course, he had no other choice.
After all, what kind of master you have dictates your fate. Like him, the legendary strongest warrior, whose master insists on playing endless loops for bloody burn damage, can only obediently comply...
"Alright then, let it be so."
Yugen put away his card deck, inserted it into the Duel Disc, and stood up.
"We better not keep the President waiting too long, right?"